An appeal to journalism brothers and sisters everywhere.

I've enjoyed this board for months. I don't know a single person here in real life but I feel a sense of community with all, even those who may strongly disagree with me on issues we talk about.

As disappointed as I am at the closing of the politics board, my negative feelings today go beyond that.

I'm disappointed in us. All of us, collectively. Not just the moderators, not the just conservatives, not just the liberals. All of us.

I'm disappointed that the very souls who ply their trade by virtue of the First Amendment go as far as to silence voices of dissent (from theirs) by complaining. I'm disappointed that we would lack the respect for that value amid ourselves while we expect to benefit from a livelihood which existence is grounded in it.

The moderators at one time wisely moved the often volatile atmosphere in the political discussions to its own board. Those who wished not to involve themselves in it even by visual exposure through the anything goes and sports and news boards didn't have to, nor should they. And so this allowed them not to. But that didn't go far enough with some.
Perhaps if we cannot respect that protective right which gives us the ability to feed our families in a venue where we speak amongst ourselves, maybe a liberal board and a conservative board is the proper course of segregation for those we disagree with. Since, that is, we seem not to be able to control our own emotional states as to allow our fellow man to speak in dissent of us.

Sure, we can visit other boards. But this is a journalist board. We of all should know and respect the freedom to express and respect dissent.

I don't care if there's commentary or reaction to this. I don't want to start a fight in it. Lock it after I speak it. But leave it for thought.

If you enjoy the board, as you said, then great. If you don't like it, leave. It's that simple.

The reason these threads get locked isn't because anyone is trying to silence anyone. It's that there is nothing to discuss, and all it does is turn into a bitchfest that we eventually need to lock anyway because people lose control of themselves. The same exercise has been repeated over and over again and WE DON'T NEED THE HEADACHE. These threads (and you are not unique) lead to the same bullshit that made the politics board such a pain in the ass in the first place.

As much of a headache as the dumbassery the politics board was for Lucas and the people who moderate it, people who won't respect the decisions he makes and start threads like this bitching and moaning about everything are an equal headache. Why not use that same energy to start a constructive thread--one that adds something rather than complains?

We get it. There were some people who liked the politics board.

And it's not open to debate. That board was given dozens of chances. Way too many people couldn't handle it. So it's gone, at least for now. The decision to close it was not made lightly. Respect it. Or leave. It's really that simple. You weren't the one dealing with unbelievable nonsense 24/7.

If you want to talk about politics, go somewhere where that is the focus. It's not the focus here. At a certain point, it became clear that quite a few people couldn't discuss anything political without going off the rails and without behaving in ways that dragged the whole board down. We tried a separate board for politics discussions. That separate board got uglier and uglier and dumber and dumber as time went on, in large part because the people who dominated it drove away many people who would have had something intelligent to add. Too often the bullshit spilled over onto the other boards. Reason didn't work. Warnings didn't work. Dozens of them that you have no clue about. And it got to the point where a moderating team and Lucas, who is as level-headed as anyone can be about all the stupidity he has had to deal with, did what had to be done.

Respect that. Or leave. But don't be a pain in the ass about it, please. You are not the one who dealt with the same meltdowns over and over again, the same inappropriate behavior and posting patterns from the same people who couldn't keep their emotions in check, and the fact that it was taking a lot of time and effort on the part of Moddy and Gutter and Trooper and Playthrough and FHB and the others who had to go in there and solve problems on a daily basis and deal with all the bullshit. The last thing any of them need is a lecture from you about how dissappointed you are in THEM.

Unfortunately, this is a fairly large community and that attracts good and bad. Mostly good. Most of the people on here are incredible and smart and witty and good-natured. It's the occasional person who acts unbalanced, can't post decently and doesn't have enough of a life to realize this is just an internet message board -- not life or death -- who takes away something from the board. That doesn't just apply to the politics board. It applies to many people who have come and gone. There is something about message boards and one like this in particular, I guess.

But the last thing any of us need right now is a lecture from you about how disappointed you are in us. If it's that bad, leave. If not, rather than starting the pain in the ass thread to tell us how awful we are (when WE did everything we could to sustain a politics board), why not post constructively and try to make this place even more insightful and fun and useful and intelligent. Build it up, instead of bitching about everything. Make it into a board that doesn't need moderators spending half their lives sorting through fights between monkeys slinging their poo at each other.